FLY BABIES / PIOJOS - The Last Stretch!

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In "Los Angeles Se Han Fatigado / Breathless Angels" 2001
Photo: Hector L. Delgado
Segment 6 of 6

The question came from an audience member at the end of the workshop production in August:

"Will these characters connect

with each other at some point?"


I wanted to scream nooooo!!!!!

But I would have lost the argument.

...but first I needed to take care of one detail I was determined to bring into the play.

Tolkien and I

In my early search I had learned that writer JRR Tolkien had lice  and almost lost his life because of it. Yes, that one of Lord Of The Rings and other brilliant works. I won't get into the details here. And no, lice are not life threatening today in most parts of the world. I was haunted by Tolkien and his lice problems. The challenge was similar to the one I had with the character of Louis XIV (segment 3 of blog). I didn't think it was necessary to have Tolkien as a stand alone character. I am not an expert on Tolkien, but I knew enough about his Silmarillion to know that there was some connection between his Luthien and our Liberty.

Click:  I introduced Tolkien by placing Liberty in a park, reading a passage from Silmarillion, unaware that Dr. Reyes is listening. As the play evolves so does the friendship between Reyes and Liberty, based on their common interest in Tolkien. 

LIBERTY:   (reading) "Húrin cried 'Aurë entuluva! The day shall come again!' Seventy times he uttered that cry; but they took him at last alive..."                                         

DR. REYES:  "But the dawn is brief and the day full often belies its promise."
LIBERTY:   (startled) Aurë entuluva? 

Omar Pėrez (Dr. Reyes) and
Rosal Colón (Liberty)

DR. REYES: The cry of a man with hope that, in the face of overwhelming evil, good will overcome in the end. (pointing at the book) ‘Silmarillion’.  

LIBERTY: You know Tolkien’s work? 

DR. REYES:  More than that. I know him.    

LIBERTY:  (pause) You look like a professor.              

DR. REYES:  A scientist. (pause) Are you a student?
LIBERTY: Sort of. (pause) I…I want to change the world.

DR. REYES: (guard enters, parades around them) Me too.

The Characters:

The Ensemble

As is common in ensembles, all actors played more than one character. In addition to their core character, actors played Clean Police, parents at a private school and Louis XIV's court.  This was accomplished by being extremely well organized back stage. Quick costume changes, the circulation of props and the entering/exiting from opposite sides of the stage needed more than a stage hand.

Enter Magic Hands! To avoid excessive traffic and pretensions, I determined that our intern and stage hand Charmaine Santiago, also an actress, would play Magic Hands. Using a pair of flashy golden gloves, the 'hands' floated in and out of the stage receiving and delivering props and/or costume pieces to/from the actors. The audience only sees the hands on stage, never the stage hand's body. 

In summary, the characters and actors - in the order introduced - are:

The Clean Police ....................................   Ensemble
Demetrio (actor,Louis XIV,parent)...........   Jesús Martínez
Georgette (opera singer).........................   Shadia Fairuz
Chic (high end lice consultant) ...............   Elise Hernández
Dr. Reyes (entomologist).........................   Omar Pėrez  
Liberty (activist, parent)...........................   Rosal Colón



FLY BABIES / PIOJOS - The Story

The play opens with the recorded announcement that frames the story: "Borders are closed! Clubs have detectors! Schools are on guard! Malls are off limits! Those suspected of carrying lice, nits, and other types of parasites will not be allowed to travel, to dance, to work, to shop or to gather in public at risk of being arrested by the Clean Police at once! This is the Brown Alert!"  

To prevent a worldwide lice catastrophe, world superpowers agree to declare a common brown alert. With the actors playing multiple roles, the Clean Police delivers the message. 

An upscale elementary private school in the East Side of Manhattan has an outbreak of lice. Chic, a high end lice consultant has been called  in to help the parents deal with the problem. She invites Dr. Reyes, a prominent entomologist, to address the parents. Meanwhile Georgette, an opera singer and one of the mothers in the school is doing everything she can to keep the school lice outbreak a secret, fearing social backlash.

In another part of town, Demetrio an actor of dubious talent, receives the great news that he is being cast as Louis XIV. He is delirious. Life is beyond good. A King! In a nearby park, a young activist by the name of Liberty, rallies people to protest against the brown alert. The individual stories and conflicts escalate to the moment in which they coincide in the park and are suddenly surrounded by the Clean Police. But Dr. Reyes and Liberty assert themselves and soon enough, they all realize that despite their social differences, they are facing a similar situation. The moment leads to the final song "Who Is On Your Side?".

Fly Babies / Piojos is a social satire in which a brown alert means much more than a mere lice outbreak. Misconceptions about who carries lice, how we deal with it socially and what does a 'brown alert' really mean is at the center of this musical play. With only the first act completed and the second act drafted but not finished, we began rehearsals on September 20, 2011 at 1pm. Fifteen years after the first thought about lice crawled into my brain.

October 21,1011 - FINALLY!

Segment 6 of 6

                Thank you

To all my sources of information. They are too many to mention here, but I particularly enjoyed www.madrescontrapiojos.com (mothers against lice) . 

To my muses Rosal and Alejandra, and to Roxana for all those hours of nit picking. They turned out to be fun.

To Desmar for the late night emailed recordings, and for the music. To Tony, for his moves, creativity, patience and good nature.

To our friends from Sering Theater in Antwerp, Belgium for their contribution to our story.

To each actor, musician, designer and crew member in the production. Their trust in me and in the process we set in motion let us walk together towards opening night.  

To my teammates Alvan, Jorge and Arnaldo.

And to our audiences, who so openly shared their lice stories, making for great after-show conversations.

BONUS VIDEO

Ensemble "Mechón a Mechón"

 Photos: Erika Rojas, Video: Rosalba

NEXT BLOG - THE GALLERY

Contact: rrolon@pregones.org

It was time to connect the dots...at last! 

FLY BABIES / PIOJOS - Fact and Fiction - a matter of script

WELCOME TO MY BLOG 

Performing in Game Over.  Photo: Erika Rojas
Segment 5 of 6

Schools in panic, summer camps on the defensive, 

turntables unrealized, a teacher turned duchess, 

an actor turned king...all of this  and more

has been covered by previous segments of my blog. 

Ultimately, it all leads to the challenge ahead of me.

FLY BABIES / PIOJOS - 2010-11 continued

Blocking a scene at Pregones' Casa Blanca

 Elise Hernández (singing), with  Shadia Fairuz and Omar Pėrez

Playing: Desmar Guevara, Anthony Carrillo

Photos: Erika Rojas, Video: Rosalba

In 2010 Pregones scheduled the premiere of Fly Babies / Piojos for the Fall of 2011. I began to feel the pressure. The 20 minute showcase we had shown in Remojo two years before had set a direction. But what to do with all the information gathered over the years, what to use, what to discard and most importantly, how to deliver it to the audience? At some point one needs to stop searching. So I stopped...for a while. I don't do conventional plays but my route was perhaps too unconventional, even for me.

2011 - Workshop Production

As the Summer of 2011 approached I saw another opportunity to advance the project. In summary, I had five key characters on track: Chic (lice consultant), Dr. Reyes (entomologist), Liberty (activist), Demetrio (actor) and Georgette (opera singer). Other characters would surface later. With some fine tuning I could present at least 40 minutes worth of monologues and songs at Pregones'  annual block party, which includes outdoors concerts and indoors presentations. It was clear by now that the monologues and songs would be performed in interaction between the characters. This interaction was addressed in Diversity, a musical scene that finally hinted at a common story in the production. 

August 7, 2011 - Workshop production of Fly Babies / Piojos

We decided to go ahead and present a workshop production of...no title! We had always called it Piojos, the Spanish word for 'lice', but I was inclined to use an euphemism instead of the literal 'piojos'. We had been using fly babies as a working title, courtesy of our colleague Arnaldo López. Fly babies imply wings, which lice don't have, flying insects, which lice are not. In short, lice - even baby ones- are the opposite of a fly baby. Perfect!

The Ensemble gets into the action

August 7, 2011 - Workshop production

Pregones Ensemble is integrated by actors and musicians who work consistently with the company. The creative process adjusts depending on the type of project. In this case, I mostly needed them to approach the characters and the music the way Desmar and I were proposing. Their task was to infuse their own spark, question choices when necessary and contribute to the aesthetic development of the piece. I needed to see the material on its feet.

Our team was completed with Anthony Carrillo (percussion), John Benitez (bass),Tony Vargas(movement) and Jessica Moya (projections). Our budget could cover 9 days of rehearsals. Everyone was game, but a bit worried. There was a lot of material to cover. But I got everyone to relax by assuring them that we would present to the audience only the material we could cover during those 9 days. It worked.

On the day of the performance we even had one of our actresses say to the audience: "the next scene, called Diversity, is incomplete; we are not sure where we are heading with it, but thought it would be fun to share with you where we are at". The audience loved it and responded accordingly.

Fast forward: Eventually the scene would begin like this:



Shadia Fairuz (Georgette)
and Elise Hernández (Chic)

(Music. Georgette enters, followed by Chic. Georgette seems in a trance.)

GEORGETTE: (in a whisper) ...or to a secret place…where no one knows who we are…do you understand?...

CHIC: Surely you understand the cost involved…

GEORGETTE: Tomorrow. At midnight. I will have a confidentiality agreement prepared. You must show up at the airport in an unmarked van and discreet clothing. A private plane will take you to our villa. It is secluded. My daughter, her nanny...and I will there.

During the nine days of rehearsals we sharpened some of the characters and explored some potential relationships. At the end of each day I would go home to rewrite, reshape and bring back fresh dialogue or ideas.

For example, in an early version of one of the characters I had a self taught 'duchess' be an expert on lice. But the character had to have a reason to possess all this knowledge.  I knew I couldn't discard the world of lice and the branch of science that studies them. Turning the play into a speech about lice was not an option. In my previous segment I wrote about Dr. Reyes. Yes, the Duchess came back as Dr. Reyes, and because working in ensembles often means aligning text with specific actors, 'she' came back as a 'he'. Here Dr. Reyes greets a group of parents :

DR. REYES

Omar Pėrez as Dr. Reyes - Workshop production

Good evening. I am an Entomologist. En-to-mo-lo-gist! (word scrolls across screen) Cockroaches, mosquitoes and   lice---oh, my! For an entomologist, running across these creepy crawlies is a dream come true. What am I saying! They are not creepy. They are crawling wonders! (pauses, amazed at the thought; music) I live and work in many places. Here, there, everywhere! I have studied the lives of very famous, and of very infamous historical figures. Writers, kings, gorillas! (at the sound of a siren, Dr. Reyes exits.)

Q & A - Someone finally pops the question

A standing ovation is always encouraging and that is exactly what we received. Everyone was on their feet, cheering and clapping. We had about 40 minutes of material, with strong performances, fun and provocative songs and a glimpse of an emerging common theme.

After the performance I invited the audience to a conversation about the project. Some members of the audience shared their own experiences and others asked about why I had decided to write a play about lice (this question surfaced again and again).

And then, finally the question came: "will these characters connect with each other through a story?"

I answered honestly: "I don't know". Then I asked: "Do you need a single story?" Several answers: "not really", "yes, for sure", "it is expected" etc.

But I knew the answer already: although each character had her/his own individual conflict, I needed something much stronger to bring it all together.

Oh, No! This is my idea!

A NY Times article about the booming business of high end lice consultants (not an abuela) triggered all kinds of thoughts, but mostly it felt like a threat. Because when The NY Times says it, people pay attention! I panicked at the thought that someone might see what I had seen for nearly 15 years...that a musical could be made out of it. Not that it happened. Because really, not too many people dare.

Next Segment:  The Last Stretch 
En route to the premiere

BONUS VIDEO

Jesús Martínez (Actor/Louis XIV), Cast and Magic Hands
singing  "El Rascador" (The Scratcher)

 

Photos: Erika Rojas  

FLY BABIES / PIOJOS - the sequence Part II

WELCOME TO MY FRIDAY BLOG

Photo: René Miko - Segment 4 of 6 on Fly Babies / Piojos

For years I gathered as much information as I could about lice, famous people with lice, the history of lice and trends
according to ethnicity, types of hair, race etc.

The more I thought

and scribbled and searched,

the more complex

the world of lice became.

I wanted it to be a comedy. Besides, each time I mentioned the theme of the play people laughed. So I thought "it'll be funny". Never assume.

Preparing for last Friday's blog helped me organize notes and identify benchmarks leading to the moment in which I began to think concretely about Fly Babies / Piojos (1996-2005). I had no title for it yet, though, but I had a pretty good outline for some of the characters: an actor-cast-as Louis XIV had surfaced first (check out last week's blog for info on Louis XIV), an activist looking for 'something' that would unite humankind, and sketches of a teacher. This seemed the kind of project that would reveal itself through the characters rather than through a storyline. In other words, the storyline was buried in the ton of information I was still gathering. Fly Babies seemed to be slowly emerging as a performance comedy consisting primarily of  monologues perhaps in some sort of interaction with other characters.

It was a puzzle and each piece could fit with each other in numerous ways, or not at all.  In putting it all together, I had my actress cap on most of the time.

2006-2007 - The Turntable

Photo: In house - Pregones in construction - 2005

In 2006 my attention was split between the creation of another new work and the yearlong inaugural events at Pregones. We had just opened the theater with a great season and I was still in a high from  the success of The Red Rose. 

But in the Spring of that year, during yet another train ride - can't remember where-- I began to draw circles.  I had flashes of Stop The World - I Want to Get Off, a show I had seen in 1978 at Lincoln Center. The main character would get on and off a moving  'globe' gracefully. It helped that he was played by Sammy Davis Jr.! Click: A turntable! Our stage is large enough to hold a turntable that the actors could manipulate as lice stories emerged, most likely in relay form.     

Photo: Erika Rojas

Fast forward to 2011: The turntable did not materialize. It would be a mechanical monster and resources were not at hand. The next best thing? Block in the round. Think circular motion. And keep it simple! It would be a challenge. Enter Brian Ireland, our set designer, and Lucrecia Briceño, lighting designer. They 'got' me right away. Designed 'legs', a subtle fence that framed the projections screen and musicians, movable benches that morphed and rich textured lighting did the trick . No turntable. But I had my circles!  

2008-2009 - Remojo

During this period I concentrated on the structure of characters that were emerging from the vast amount of anecdotes I found in sites from all over the world and those volunteered to  me. So far I had the Actor, the Activist, a sketchy urban mom who was hiding her lice problem at all costs, and a small town, self appointed Duchess very knowledgeable about lice. Click: The sketchy mom would develop into the opera singer and Duchess, formerly a teacher, would develop into a dorky entomologist. More on this later.

Shadia and Yarani going over music score

Remojo (Spanish for soaking) is a fun project that allows audiences to watch our ideas in action. Those of us at Pregones developing projects have the opportunity to show up to 25 minutes of the idea. We can do it as a staged reading, or a combination of a reading and a performance. It can be sketchy and we can even interrupt and let the audience know if we are not sure of what to do with the next section but will put it out there anyway. It is one of our most successful behind-the-scenes events and we have a full house each time.

I decided to go for it in the Remojo. I had written the song Fly Babies (check some of the lyrics in blog #2) and substantial sections of monologues. Working with Desmar Guevara, our composer and musical director, we had three rehearsals, staged the song, the monologues and voila! We presented 20 minutes of the idea. Laughter and comments throughout. Cheers. A good sign.   

 

Still no central story! The overload of information and anecdotes had something to do with it. If it seems like I was working backwards, I was. Again, my gut feeling was that the individual stories could carry an entire performance whether there was a central storyline or not, because each character had an arc I could depend on. I needed to test my assumptions, though. Just not yet.


2010 - The Carrousel

30+ years of travels have made the world manageable for my work. In the past 10 years, though, our international family  has expanded thanks to the International Community Arts Festival in Rotterdam.

The ICAF brings together community and professional  artists from all over the world. This has led to the creation of joint initiatives and global projects. One of these is the Worldwide Virtual Theater Carrousel. 

Working with partners in Belgium, Perú and South Africa, Pregones is able to participate in joint creative ventures. We do it via film, country-to-country hopping, photography and of course, virtually. We have participated in each other's productions on four or five occasions.

Omar Pėrez and Jan Janssen (of Sering Theater, Belgium)
  

Fast forward to 2011: We invite our Belgium partners, Sering Theater, to come on board. They went to work, filming  actors scratching their heads and sharing lice stories, which were then edited with our other footage.  By now we have had many conversations about lice. They are just as familiar with lice as we are. One of Sering actors, Jan Janssen (in projection), shared his opinion about lice, in dialogue with Omar Pėrez (playing Dr. Reyes, the scientist--formerly the Duchess). 

The process is always a bit complicated and shows great commitments from our partners. After the concept is clear, they convene actors, filmmaker and other personnel. If they use video, they film it, then load it -- a process that takes several hours -- send it to us, our filmmaker picks it up do all kinds of technical things I know little about, and edits as needed. Meanwhile, we skype constantly. 

Language is another factor. Jan speaks in Flemish. Omar is perfectly bilingual...in English and Spanish. We decide that the conversation will have to be in Flemish. Omar jumps at the opportunity to learn the lines. He loves languages.  We skype with Mia Grijp, Artistic Director of Sering, and we video the session in which she coaches Omar with the correct pronunciation. It's a sight! And it worked!
 
But what was the conversation about? By the time we filmed Jan and Omar, we had a story!

2010 TO BE CONTINUED...The tension mounts, Tolkien emerges, with a glitch. So does the story. The Carrousel joins in...just one year away from opening night!

NEXT BLOG, NEXT FRIDAY

BONUS VIDEO

Jesús Martínez and Omar Pérez in dressing room

FLY BABIES / PIOJOS - the sequence Part I

 WELCOME TO MY FRIDAY BLOG

Segment 3 of 6

After each performance of Fly Babies / Piojos audience members liked to share their "piojos" stories. Some were compelled to approach me privately. I was jokingly called 'insane', asked what do I really have inside my brain, what do I eat for breakfast, and other provocative and funny questions. I was told that the play is clever many, many times. But more often than not, I was asked why I chose to write about "piojos". Blogs, articles and interviews have so far focused on that question. It's made me think back to those first thoughts that germinated the idea of a play about lice. 

15 years to create a play? Really? Not exactly, but...

Generally, it takes me --and I suspect others too-- time to react, for observations to sink in until a concrete idea emerges for a play. Mind you, I have the unusual good fortune of belonging to a theater company and an ensemble. Pregones affords me the opportunity to develop and, more often than not, also stage the work.

The following are benchmarks of my thought process, leading to the moment in which I voiced that I wanted to create a play about lice.

1996 - The OMG! Factor

head louse

My daughter was in fourth grade at this really nice elementary public school in Manhattan. Parents were called in because there was an outbreak of lice at the school. OK, so lice are a pest and really something we don't want on our heads or on our bodies, but the reaction of some parents were not in proportion with the problem, I thought.

"Ohhhh myyyy gggggoood!" said a mom who came running into the school with a shower cap and gloves on. I thought she had just come in from a kitchen nearby. She looked around in desperation: Did the school have a plan? I looked around too, but I could tell we were the plan! The teacher that made the initial call assumed that the Latina mothers knew more about lice than everyone else. They looked at us expectantly. Click! First seed planted. Hmmm... This moment eventually translated into a 6-minute musical scene. Here's a sample:



Rosal  Colón, Jesús Martinez
 Shadia Feiruz, Omar Pėrez

Diversity! Diversity!

Bring in the flocks

Of all who clean

And just walk in

Who knows from where!

But at what cost?

Lice!

Diversity! Diversity!

What other burdens

Shall we bear

In the name of 

Diversity! Diversity!

For the record: lice are very democratic. They don't discriminate, though head lice prefer straight hair. They change color to match the host's hair.

1998 - In good company... Again!

My daughter and her best friend, whose mother is one of my oldest friends, have lice and we plan a lice removal party at home. Just the four of us, each mom with her daughter sitting on the floor, between her legs, a table with all the gear + instructions. We begin to segment their hair, taking strand by strand, squeezing out again and again, until we had a choreography of sorts. We had a good laugh. The girls didn't find it funny. Click! Second seed planted. This was the initial inspiration for the song Ocho Tramos (Eight Tracks). Here's a bit of the scene, played during an open rehearsal:

In video: Elise Hernández, Rosal Colón and Shadia Fairuz; music: Desmar, Guevara, Alberto Toro,
Anthony Carrillo and Ben Willlis

Translation: "examine the scalp, squeeze out each louse using your index finger and your thumb, break it with your fingernails, make sure you hear a 'click', drop the louse in a glass of water and throw it out the window".

 1999 - Summer Camp... Of course!

I remember joking about my 'three-act opera about lice' when we were told that kids, including my daughter and her friend, needed to be checked for lice before boarding the summer camp bus. My daughter got on the bus, but her friend didn't. She was staying with us, as her parents were in Spain. We rushed home, had her hair cut, did the treatment and drove to Massachusetts so she wouldn't miss camp. I paid attention to the instructions and found myself humming while reading them. Click! There could be an entire scene with sung instructions. Perhaps this was a sign of the opera diva that would emerge 11 years later.

2000-2003 - Blackout!

No doubt the topic of lice went in and out of my brain throughout this period. But I can't remember or find notes that document specific thoughts about the play. During this period Pregones toured to Rotterdam and then to Paris. No sign of lice, or so I thought.

2004-2005 - A visit to Louis XIV via Philly 

Jesús Martinez (Louis XIV) and Cast

Pregones was building our new theater, while rehearsing The Red Rose at studio we had remodeled next door.  I can't recall what brought lice "back" into my life, but something did. I needed to travel to Philadelphia and, at the urging of my colleagues I grabbed my notes and scribbled through the entire trip, seriously thinking about the kind of play I wanted to make. I also brought an article that had gotten my attention during a visit to Spain. The Duchess of Alba had had a history with lice! Click! That was too tempting. I thought, maybe there are other monarchs with lice!

Once in Philly, at the hotel, I searched online and King Louis XIV of France emerged as one of the most famous 'piojosos' of the 17th century. A dictator by nature (is there such a thing?), he was an aggressive ruler, used lavish wigs under which a colony of lice had fun, and is credited for commissioning the invention of the scratcher. You can't make these things up! But I thought having a character that would just play Louis XIV would be limiting to the story... though I had no idea what the story was yet! Click! The role of an aspiring actor who has been cast as Louis XIV could do the trick. It was a sweet ride back to NY. 

2005-2011 - Next Friday! Next Blog!

Bonus Video

Sound (Milton), Projections (Jessica), Choreographer (Tony) and Musicians warm up

Photos: Erika Rojas, Soldanela Rivera and Rosalba. Rosalba took the videos.

The Lyrics of Fly Babies / Piojos

WELCOME TO MY FRIDAY BLOG

Audiences have responded beautifully to the lyrics/music of FLY BABIES / PIOJOS. Pregones makes musical plays. We walk the tightrope between plays-with-music and musicals. It gives us more freedom, a broad range of performance and staging choices. We learned that from the combination Brecht-Weill and the way Latin American and Caribbean theater absorbed their aesthetic, then transformed it. They rocked.

The LYRICS of

FLY BABIES / PIOJOS

Segment 2 of 6

All lyrics by Rosalba Rolón. © 2011

Music by Desmar Guevara

photos: Erika Rojas

Desmar Guevara

Working with Composer and Pregones Musical Director Desmar Guevara is always an adventure: sometimes we lose our way, other times we know exactly the way. But we always know where we want to end up. We generally discuss the spirit of the song, the placement in the script and its instrumentation. I say: 'this is what I mean' and I read it to him, to which he answers 'this is what I hear' and he plays it. In the end, we are led by the story and, in great measure, by the ensemble.                                                                            

 I then retreat to write and occasionally create some initial melody on my piano, usually very late at night. I record it --either I sing it or play a few notes-- and email the recording to Desmar. If he likes it he works on a preliminary arrangement.  If he doesn't or is not sure, we discuss it and he counter proposes a melody or we just improvise together. On most occasions, I have no idea of the melody but once he gets the concept he composes for the lyrics and more often than not, says: "it's too short; write some more".

Rosal Colón and Shadia Fairuz

I must credit the amazing improvising abilities of our acting and music ensemble for the success of the lyrics. Once Desmar and I present the musical number or the musical scene, the actors jump in to learn it, dance it, move it and very often add to it or reshape it.  We warm up as a group for a good half hour or more before rehearsal begins.

Here I am sharing portions of some of the lyrics of Fly Babies/Piojos  --four out of 14-- and about the process when writing and staging them. That is, for those that are based on reasoning. Other songs just... happened! The opening song, performed by the Clean Police, is one of them.



FLY BABIES 

"Fly babies" is an euphemism that becomes clearer as we get to know the characters of the play. The larger than life description of these tiny creatures, backed by electronic music offered a great opening for the production. We gave life to the song about 3 years ago. It was the first song I wrote for the play. We then re-mounted it with a more aggressive beat and some fluctuations, improvising with Elise Hernandez, a cast member.

As for the choreography, I have been haunted for years by Ivanov's dance of the Cygnetes in Swan Lake. I asked our choreographer Antonio Vargas to create a choreography for our Clean Police inspired by the dance of the cygnetes, taking into consideration that it should transform into movement. In other words, not dance. As actors, they could create a very interesting visual image based on a proven sequence -- the now legendary dance of the four swans.

Omar Pėrez

Fly babies (x3)
From head to head
From body to body
From town to town
From country to country

Always scratching
Nobody’s watching
Lice are crawling
Snowflakes falling
We see them jumping
They seem to fly
They seem to hop
We don’t know why
They call them lice
We call them Fly Babies.



LITTLE BASTARDS  
I first became acquainted with the business of high end lice consultants after The New York Times ran a series of stories about lice in New York City and specifically in upscale neighborhoods and schools. Businesses claiming specialty in lice removal services have been sprouting nationally over the past few years. I couldn't resist the idea of creating a character --CHIC-- whose line of work is lice removal for the rich. Played brilliantly by Elise Hernández (in pic), it goes like this:
 

I am a high end lice consultant

For upscale families

The children play

And the parents pray

As they secretly call me.

I am a high end lice consultant

It takes a very special skill

To kill the little bastards.

Fly babies, I mean.

Elise Hernández

I am not to be seen

I am no to be heard

Squeeze in

Squeeze out

A paralyzing feeling

Of despair

I understand

I do!

I am a high end lice consultant

It takes a special skill

To kill the little bastards.

Fly babies, I mean.

             

            A PELO SECO  (apply to dry hair)
       

Sung in Spanish, this number began as a spoken scene for  Georgette, a 'high end' opera singer with lice. She is reading instructions from the box of a lice removal remedy. But reading the instructions was holding back the flow of the scene. Played by Shadia Fairuz, I thought I was wasting an opportunity to use her powerful voice. Why not read the instructions as a Spanish aria? Desmar and Anthony began to improvise, Shadia joined in, then I joined in.  It all came together. The following is a short segment of A PELO SECO during one of its early rehearsals.

En español:

Use una toalla ● para que la ropa no se moje ●  úntese a pelo seco ● u a otra

área afectada ● comience por las orejas ● y la parte atrás del cuello ●  los piojos se arrastran  ●  para arriba y para abajo… 
Hablado: ¡Yo no puedo hacer ésto!

In English:

Use a towel ●  To protect your clothes ●   Apply to dry hair ●    Or any other infested area ●  Begin around the ears ●   And behind the neck ● Lice crawl up and down!...

Spoken: I can't do this!

     

                         

WHO’S ON YOUR SIDE?
The character of Liberty sings this song towards the end of the show. Rosal Colón plays the role with dramatic depth and conviction. Liberty is an activist who has found the analogy between the lice she carries on her head and those in power who behave pretty much like lice.

Rosal Colón (center) in the role of Liberty

Throughout the play she looks for something that unites us all and resents the Brown alert as one more attempt to create social discord. She has felt quite alone in her struggles until the moment they are all surrounded by the Clean Police for a lice inspection. I worked on an initial melody and Desmar worked with the cast to navigate the lyrics, which are meant to be sung on one breath per verse. Here are a couple of sections of the song.


At the start of a new day
Who’s on your side?
To change the world
Is good to know
Who's on your side?
Kingdoms and world superpowers
Have the virtue of behaving like
The lice I have on my head
There is exhaustion everywhere
Who’s on my side?
We can’t hide it anymore
Who’s on your side?
It’s the plague of a new age
Who’s on your side?

CHORUS

Our souls have been infested 
It’s an international hangover 
But let’s look around and

Find each other

It's just one side!

Fly Babies/Piojos - The Songs

ACT I
Fly Babies -- Cast 

A Pelo Seco -- Shadia Fairuz

Little Bastards -- Elise Hernández

Brother vs. Brother -- Rosal Colón

Buscando Piojos -- Rosal Colón 
Step step step -- Elise Hernández/Cast 
Deténganse -- Cast

Diversity -- Elise Hernández/Cast


ACT II

Ocho Tramos -- Elise Hernández, Rosal Colón, Shadia Fairuz

El Rascador -- Jesús Martínez/ Cast 

Mechón a Mechón -- Cast

Crawling Wonder -- Omar Perez/Shadia 

Who's On Your Side -- Rosal Colón/Cast

Fly Babies Finale -- Cast

Musicians: Desmar Guevara, Anthony Carrillo, Alberto Toro, Benji Willis 

   

Next segment - next Friday!